1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a measurement data processor for processing measurement data measured by a measuring instrument and measurement data processing method.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, measurement data measured by a measuring instrument is read by a computer system connected to the measuring instrument, where the measurement data is stored in a memory and arithmetically processed to be displayed as a graph. When the measurement data is processed at a place other than measurement site, an arrangement shown in, for instance, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-41827 is used, where the measurement data is transmitted to a computer system located at the place other than the measurement site using a modem or a communications terminal through a phone line or radio transmitter.
However, according to the above conventional arrangement, the measurement data can be processed only by the computer system connected to the measuring instrument or other computer system connected to the computer system through a phone line, so that handlability of the measurement data is restricted.
On the other hand, a cellular phone or a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) or other like device is widely used as a mobile communications terminal for transmitting and receiving a signal via a base station by a predetermined operation on an operation key. Such cellular phone and PHS can transmit and receive signals such as document data, picture data and music data as well as functioning as an ordinary phone.
However, it is required for the mobile communications terminal such as cellular phone and PHS to retain its original telephone call function. Accordingly, the mobile communications terminal can only transmit and receive data with relatively small capacity that is in a standardized format, such as document data, picture data and music data. The measurement data measured by the measuring instrument has a data format inherent to each measuring instrument and currently cannot be transmitted and received as an ordinary signal usable by a mobile phone and PHS.
As described above, the conventional arrangement for transmitting and receiving measurement data is restricted to the computer system connected to the measuring instrument or other computer system connected to the computer system in a manner capable of transmitting and receiving signals, so that handlability of measurement data is difficult to improve.
Further, the mobile communications terminal such as a cellular phone and PHS cannot transmit and receive measurement data having a data format characteristic of each measuring instrument without impairing its original function.
An object of the present invention is to provide a measurement data processor and processing method for more easily processing the measurement data and improving processing efficiency of the measurement data.
A measurement data processor according to an aspect of the present invention has: an operation key; a communicator for transmitting and receiving a signal to/from a base station through a wireless medium; and a controller for reading measurement data acquired by a measuring instrument by operating the operation key after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted and received by the communicator, the controller directing storage of the measurement data from the communicator in a predetermined address space of the base station.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, the measurement data acquired by the measuring instrument is read by the controller after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted to and received from the base station by the communicator by recognizing the operation of the operation key and the measurement data is transmitted by the communicator to the predetermined address space of the base station to be stored.
Accordingly, since the measurement data is sequentially stored at the base station by connecting the mobile communications terminal to the measuring instrument and operating the operation key, no separate computer system having large capacity storage is necessary and the measurement data is more easily transferred using existing measuring instruments, so that the measurement data is not necessary to be stored in the instrument, the measurement data is easily received and the processing efficiency of the measurement data is improved.
A measurement data processor according to another aspect of the present invention includes: an operation key, a communicator for transmitting and receiving a signal to/from a base station through a wireless medium; and a controller for reading measurement data acquired by a measuring instrument by operating the operation key after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted and received by the communicator, the controller transmitting the measurement data from the communicator to another communications terminal through the base station.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, the measurement data acquired by the measuring instrument is read by the controller after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted to and received from the base station by the communicator by recognizing the operation of the operation key and the measurement data is transmitted by the communicator to another communications terminal having the communicator through the base station. Accordingly, the measurement data is easily processed at the location other than the measurement site, so that the processing efficiency of the measurement data is improved. Further, the measurement data is stored in the communications terminal to which the data is transmitted, so that it is not necessary to store the measurement data otherwise.
A measurement data processor according to still another aspect of the present invention includes: a mobile communications terminal including: an operation key, a communicator for transmitting and receiving a signal to/from a base station through a wireless medium; a controller for controlling the communicator by operating the operation key to transmit and receive the signal to/from the base station; and a measurement data reader provided to the mobile communication terminal for reading a measurement data acquired by a measuring instrument after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted and received by the communicator, where the controller controls the communicator to store the measurement data from the communicator in a predetermined address space of the base station.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, the measurement data acquired by the measuring instrument is read by the measurement data reader provided to the mobile communications terminal after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted and received by the communicator, and the controller stores the measurement data in the predetermined address space of the base station. Accordingly, it is only required to provide the measurement data processor to an existing mobile communications terminal such as a cellular phone and PHS, and no separate computer system having large storage capacity is necessary, so that the measurement data is easily transferred and stored without requiring the system to separately memorize the measurement data, thereby enhancing processing efficiency of the measurement data.
A measurement data processor according to a further aspect of the present invention has a mobile communications terminal including: an operation key, a communicator for transmitting and receiving a signal to/from a base station through wireless a medium; a controller for controlling the communicator by operating the operation key for transmitting and receiving the signal to/from a base station; and a measurement data reader provided to the mobile communication terminal for reading measurement data acquired by a measuring instrument after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted and received by the communicator, in which the controller controls the communicator to transmit the measurement data to another communications terminal having another communicator through the base station.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, the measurement data acquired by the measuring instrument is read by the measurement data reader provided to the mobile communications terminal after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted and received by the communicator and the controller transmits the measurement data to another communications terminal having another communicator through the base station. Accordingly, it is only required to provide the measurement data processor to an existing mobile communications terminal such as a cellular phone and PHS, so that the measurement data is processed at a location other than the measurement site, thereby enhancing processing efficiency of the measurement data. Further, since the measurement data is stored in the communications terminal to which the data is transmitted, it is not necessary to store the measurement data in the measurement data processor.
A measurement data processing method according to a further aspect of the present invention is for processing measurement data acquired by a measuring instrument, the method including the steps of: providing a mobile communications terminal including: an operation key; a communicator for transmitting and receiving a signal to/from a base station through a wireless medium; and a controller for controlling the communicator by operating the operation key for transmitting and receiving the signal to/from a base station; connecting the mobile communications terminal to the measuring instrument by cable or wireless; reading the measurement data from the measuring instrument by the controller after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted and received by the communicator; and transmitting the measurement data to the base station by controlling the communicator to store the measurement data in a predetermined address space in the base station.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, when a predetermined operation of the operation key is recognized while the mobile communications terminal is connected to the measuring instrument, the controller reads the measurement data from the measuring instrument after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted and received by the communicator, and the measurement data is transmitted to the base station by controlling the communicator to be stored in the predetermined address space in the base station. Accordingly, the measurement data can be stored in the base station by connecting the mobile communications terminal to the measuring instrument and operating the predetermined operation key, so that there is no need for providing a separate computer system provided with large capacity storage and the measurement data is easily transferred and stored using existing measuring instrument without storing the measurement data in the measuring instrument, thereby facilitating transfer of the measurement data and enhancing processing efficiency of the measurement data.
A measurement data processing method according to a further aspect of the present invention is for processing a measurement data acquired by a measuring instrument, the method comprising the steps of: providing a mobile communications terminal including: an operation key; a communicator for transmitting and receiving a signal to/from a base station through wireless medium; and a controller for controlling the communicator by operating the operation key for transmitting and receiving the signal to/from a base station; connecting the mobile communications terminal to the measuring instrument by cable or wireless; reading the measurement data from the measuring instrument by the controller after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted and received by the communicator; and transmitting the measurement data by controlling the communicator to another communications terminal through the base station.
According to the above aspect of the present invention, when a predetermined operation of the operation key is recognized while the mobile communications terminal is connected to the measuring instrument, the controller reads the measurement data from the measuring instrument after converting the measurement data into the same data format as the signal transmitted and received by the communicator, and the measurement data is transmitted to another communications terminal having another communicator through the base station by controlling the communicator. Accordingly, the measurement data is processed even in a place other than the measurement site and the processing efficiency of the measurement data can be enhanced. Further, since the measurement data is stored in the communications terminal to which the measurement data is transmitted, it is not necessary to store the measurement data in the measuring instrument.
In the present invention, the measurement data reader may be detachably attached to the mobile communications terminal to be connected to the controller. Accordingly, the processing efficiency of the measurement data is enhanced with a simple arrangement of using an existing mobile communications terminal such as a cellular phone or PHS, and attaching separate measurement data reader to the mobile communications terminal.
In the present invention, the measurement data reader may be provided to the measuring instrument for acquiring the measurement data and the controller may read the measurement data acquired by the measuring instrument through the measurement data reader by being connected to the measuring instrument by cable or wireless. Accordingly, the processing efficiency of the measurement data is enhanced with a simple arrangement of using an existing mobile communications terminal such as a cellular phone or PHS, and connecting the mobile communication terminal with the measuring instrument.
In the present invention, the controller may store the measurement data in a memory provided to the mobile communications terminal. Accordingly, the measurement data can be administered and processed by the mobile communications terminal from which the measurement data is transmitted, thereby enhancing processing efficiency of the measurement data. Further, the transmitting method can be changed according to the processing of the measurement data, where the measurement data can be collectively transmitted or can be transmitted simultaneously with reading the data in a real-time manner, thereby enhancing transmission ease and handlability of the measurement data.
In the present invention, a malfunction alarm including a communicator for reporting a malfunction when the communicator receives a predetermined signal may be provided, where the controller controls the communicator to transmit the predetermined signal to the malfunction alarm through the base station when the measuring instrument fails to acquire and read the measurement data. Accordingly, the acquirement error of the measurement data is recognized at a place other than the measurement site and the measurement data can be securely acquired.
In the present invention, the controller may control the communicator to transmit a signal indicating that the measurement data cannot be acquired to another communication terminal through the base station when the measuring instrument fails to acquire and read the measurement data. Accordingly, the acquirement error of the measurement data is recognized at a place other than the measurement site and the measurement data can be securely acquired.
In the present invention, the mobile communications terminal may include a display means for conducting various display operations, step data indicating steps for acquiring the measurement data by the measuring instrument may be stored in the address space of the base station, and the controller may control the communicator to receive the step data stored in the base station and to display the step data on the display means. Accordingly, the acquirement error of the measurement data is recognized by the measuring instrument, thereby enhancing efficiency for acquiring and reading the measurement data to enhance the processing efficiency of the measurement data.
In the present invention, the controller controls the communicator to read the step data for controlling the process for acquiring the measurement data of the measuring instrument stored in the address space of the base station in advance and the measuring process of the measuring instrument is conducted according to the step data. Accordingly, the measurement data is obtained by connecting to the measuring instrument and executing the step data, thereby facilitating acquiring the measurement data.
In the present invention, the controller may have a processor for arithmetically processing the measurement data. Accordingly, the measurement data read by the measuring instrument may be arithmetically processed and displayed in a graph to facilitate evaluation of the measurement result, and the arithmetically processed measurement data can be transmitted so that the load for processing the measurement data at the site to which the measurement data is transmitted can be reduced, thereby improving processing efficiency and handlability of the measurement data.